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State hub · Michigan
Michigan's ghost towns grew out of its lumber, copper and iron booms. Lumber built mill towns such as Singapore, at the mouth of the Kalamazoo River, which drifting sand buried once the surrounding forest was cut, and Pere Cheney, a sawmill and railroad town in Crawford County that faded after diphtheria epidemics in the 1890s. Copper built camps on the Keweenaw Peninsula and in the Porcupine Mountains: Central had more than 1,200 people before its mine closed in 1898. Iron made Fayette on the Garden Peninsula, where the Jackson Iron Company smelted pig iron from 1867 to 1891. Lake ports and cordwood stops like Glen Haven supplied the steamers on Lake Michigan.
The best-known sites are in the Upper Peninsula and along the Lake Michigan and Lake Huron shores. Several are public: Fayette is a state park, Glen Haven is part of Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore, and Port Crescent and the Nonesuch mine lie inside state parks. Elsewhere, expect a cemetery, foundations in second-growth woods, or nothing at all. About 10 percent of Michigan is federal land, so check who owns a site before you go.
Town guides
Our complete guides, most-read first: history, what's left, current access, photos, maps and directions.
GuideAllegan County
A lumber port at the mouth of the Kalamazoo River that printed its own money and then disappeared under the sand. Nothing of the town shows today.…
GuideCrawford County
A lumber and railroad town that diphtheria emptied in the 1890s and that was gone by 1917. Its cemetery, in a clearing in the pines, is all that is…
GuideLeelanau County
A cordwood stop for Lake Michigan steamers that became D. H. Day's company village. Its general store, blacksmith shop and cannery are kept by the…
GuideHuron County
A sawmill and salt port at the mouth of the Pinnebog River that lost its forests to the fires of 1871 and 1881 and its last business in 1936. The…
GuideKeweenaw County
A copper village on the Keweenaw Peninsula that grew around one of the region's richest early mines and emptied after the mine closed in 1898. The…
GuideDelta County
An iron company town of about 500 people that made charcoal pig iron for 24 years. Its furnace complex, hotel and houses stand on Snail Shell Harbor…
GuideOntonagon County
A copper mine that opened and closed five times and made money in only three years. Its foundations lie in the woods of the Porcupine Mountains, on a…
Watch
Iron towns, copper camps, and old Lake Michigan storefronts. Explore the history, maps and access notes before you go.
Where to start
Open attractions, living towns and true ruins, with their current status.
Delta County
Jackson Iron Company town of about 500 people that made charcoal pig iron from 1867 to 1891. The restored townsite is a state park museum with a visitor center and walk-in buildings. Its 2026 season ran from May 16 to October 11, and 2027 dates aren't posted yet.
Keweenaw County
Copper camp of more than 1,200 people around the Central Mine, worked from 1854 to 1898. Miners' houses, the 1868 Methodist church and a visitor center stand on land kept by the Keweenaw County Historical Society.
Leelanau County
Cordwood stop for Lake Michigan steamers, later D. H. Day's company village and cannery. The general store, blacksmith shop and cannery boat museum are part of Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore.
Huron County
Town at the mouth of the Pinnebog River on Lake Huron. One of its last landmarks, a 120-foot sawmill chimney, was razed in 1961, leaving only the base; the site is now Port Crescent State Park.
Allegan County
Lumber town at the mouth of the Kalamazoo River, founded in 1836. Logging stripped the surrounding woods and blowing sand began to bury the town, which was empty by 1875. Its remains lie under the dunes near Saugatuck.
Crawford County
Sawmill and railroad town of the 1870s, hit by diphtheria in 1893 and 1897 and declared a ghost town by 1917. Only its township-owned cemetery is known to survive, in the woods; tales of a witch's curse are legend. An April 2026 travel article says the cemetery is open by day and that arriving after dark is trespassing; we found no township notice of those hours.
Ontonagon County
Copper mine worked on and off from 1867 to 1912, with about 300 people in the early 1880s. Foundations of the mine buildings and the concrete footings of a 1906 stamp mill remain beside a short trail in Porcupine Mountains Wilderness State Park, per a September 2025 article.
Near a city
Driving distance and time from downtown, routed over OpenStreetMap roads. Dirt roads are usually slower than the estimate.
Directory
Every town, camp and settlement in our Michigan index, with its county. A ◦ marks sites already on the map.
No sites match. Try fewer letters or another county.
Plan a trip
Many sites run on a summer season. The Fayette townsite buildings are open from mid-May to mid-October, Central's visitor center opens from mid-June to early October, and the Keweenaw County Historical Society closed all its sites for the 2026 season on October 12.
About 10 percent of Michigan is federal land. Outside parks, treat a ghost town site as private unless you know otherwise. Fayette and the Porcupine Mountains need a Recreation Passport or daily permit to park. Central's grounds are open year-round, but some houses are lived in, and the historical society asks visitors to respect residents' privacy. Pere Cheney's cemetery belongs to Beaver Creek Township.
In national park areas such as Sleeping Bear Dunes, federal rules ban metal detectors and disturbing any historic structure or artifact. On private land, anything you pick up belongs to the owner. Pere Cheney has already lost most of its headstones to vandals.
Some sites are far from services. By our routing, Fayette is about two hours from Marquette and Nonesuch about three, and the Nonesuch trailhead on South Boundary Road is easy to miss. Fill the tank, carry water and an offline map, and tell someone your route.
FAQ
No one has a firm count. Wikipedia's list, which calls itself incomplete, had about 140 entries in October 2026. Our directory merges Wikipedia's category of Michigan ghost towns with other listings.
Fayette, on the Garden Peninsula, has the most to see: a restored iron-smelting town with a visitor center, open mid-May to mid-October; its 2026 season ended October 11. Central in the Keweenaw, with a summer visitor center, and Glen Haven at Sleeping Bear Dunes also have standing buildings.
From downtown Detroit, Rawsonville, Disco and Kensington are all within an hour, and Port Crescent State Park is just under three hours. From Grand Rapids, Singapore near Saugatuck is under an hour and Glen Haven about three and a quarter hours. Fayette is about two hours from Marquette.
Stories of a witch's curse and of ghosts in the cemetery are legends. The documented history is a lumber town hit by diphtheria in 1893 and 1897 and abandoned by 1917. Few headstones survive, mostly because of vandalism.
Partly. Fayette's townsite buildings and the Keweenaw County Historical Society sites close for the season in October, though the grounds at Central are open year-round. Check roads and snow before you go.
Abandoned